Railway-tie.



PATENTED OCT. 29. 1907.

M. J. NOLAN. RAILWAY TIE. APPLIOATION FILED MAE. 5. 1907.

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UNITED PATENT OFFICE.

MARTIN J. NOLAN, OF PIIILADE Llll IA, 'PltlNNSY LVANIA, ASSIGNOR, BYMESNE ASSIGNMENTS,

TO NATIONAL SLAG CONSTRUCTION COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF Di l LA \VA RERAILWAY-TIE Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 29, 1907.

Application filed March 5. 1907. Serial No. 360,717.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MARTIN .l. NOLAN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State ofPennsylvania,

have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway-'lies, ofwhich the following is a specification.

This invention relates to railway t,' and the manufacture tlnsreof.

The object of the invention is to construct. railway ties of a dense,heavy material constituting a byproduct of little or no value, at: thepresent time, and possessing the qualities of being unaffected bymoisture, frost or heat.

With this and minor objects in view my invention consists in the mattersto be hereinafter described in detail, and claimed in the clauses at theclose of this specification.

ln'the accompanying drawings, Figure l, is a side elevation, partly insection, of a tie, rails and rail his toning, embodying my invention-"g. L, isa sectional view on line 2 L, of Fig. l l ig. 3, is a plan viewof the tie' l ig. l, is a side elevation, partly in section of a 'tiewith the fasteners in position for insertion l 5, is a top plan view ofa mold or flask adapted for the casting of my tiesl igp (i. is a sideelevation, partly in section, of the same.

in constructing railways many efforts have beenmade to obtain asatisfactory substitute for the well known wood ties or sleepers,because of the scarcity of wood in large areas of the country, and forthe further reason that wood is affected by the elements, and subject toattack by insects, necessitating constant watchfulness and frequent,renewals, which involve great; expensef have diseoverml thatsatisfactory ties can be made from a fry-product of steel and ironplants, the

material thus being of low cost, and a saving being effected in theoperation of the furnace, as ready disposal is made of waste which,rapidly accumulates to the great disadvantage of the plant.

As is well known the slag or cinder dross of steel and iron furnaces, ispractically a waste product, extremely hard, and so far as I am aware,methods have not been heretofore devised to compact it into a nonfriable mass l have discovered that the slag when hot from the furnacemay be cast in molds, and compacts into a solid mass, having a minimumof expansibility under usual climatic changes, and is not affected bymoisture or frost, therefore being eminently well fitted to fill therequirements of railway ties or sleepers, which may be made at slightcost without material or expensive change to the steel or iron plant;

In carrying my invention into practice, a staging or elevated way isarranged adjacent to the furnace to convey the hot slag, cinder or dressdirect to a crucible or sand mold, when said hot slag is poured into themold, compacting therein into a solid mass of the required shape loadmit of proper rail fastenings the mold A is provided with posts a sopositioned that the finished tie B will be provided with verticalopenings 1) on either side of and closely adjacent to the rail seats ofthe tie so that fastening bolt may be passed therelhrough, the upperends of which are threaded to receive nuts which overlap and clamp therail foot I) as shown in Fig. l--l prefer the form of fastening" shown,consisting of a U-shaped bolt orstaple, threaded at its free ends toreceive nuts D that tightly clamp the foot of the rail to the tie and insome instances l contemplate using a beveled washer (I to rest upon thetie and rail-foot, and present a flat upper surface to the pressure ofthe clamping nut as at the left hand of Fig. l---'lhe slag from 'fO asteel furnace is preferably cast in a crucible mold, which it will beunderstood is shaped to give proper form to the tie, preferably thatshown in the drawings, as it affords a broad seat or rest, for the railsand is beveled between the rail seats, and at, the ends to avoidlodgnient of snow etc. in casting slag from iron furnaces it may befound necessary to employ sand molds, as the slag contains less flintand is apt to adhere to a crucible mold-1n practice the slag is pouredwhile hot into the mold the bottom of which is shaped to the form of theupper side of the finished tie, thus assuring for the top and sides ofthe tie a practically smooth surface, while thcbottom of the tie will besom what rough, assuring a better hold on the roadbed.

lt will be understood, that the same material and method of casting maybe applied in making other structures than railway ties, such as'irders, and other objects exposed to the elements.

Claims.

MARTIN .l. NOLAN.

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